Jermell Charlo Keeps the Ball Rolling Against Joachim Alcine

On a relatively slow boxing weekend, undefeated junior middleweight contender Jermell Charlo kept his record perfect with a Round 6 TKO over the well-traveled Joachim Alcine. This was little more than a stay-busy for Charlo. His victory over Vanes Martirosyan last March was the win that demonstrated his true bonafide, top-10 status in the division. At this point, Alcine isn’t a credible opponent for a top-10 talent.

Alcine had last fought in May 2014, coming away with a split-decision draw against Delvin Rodriguez. Since the high point of his career, a majority-decision victory over David Lemieux in 2011, he has gone 2-6-1, with losses to second-level contenders like Brian Rose and Matthew Macklin.

Nobody expected Jermelle Charlo to face a true challenge in this one. But it gave him a night’s work while allowing him to improve his record to 27-0 with 12 KOs.

The fight comes at a time when the (one-minute) younger Charlo twin seems to be going through a bit of a transition in his career outside the ring. This was his first fight being trained under Derrick James, instead of the well-respected Ronnie Shields, who had trained both Charlo brothers since grade school.

The split sounded at least respectful when Charlo spoke to The Ring late last week. No matter who Charlo is being trained by, he’s still got to be viewed as one of the greatest potential talents in the 154-pound division. His brother, Jermall, already captured an alphabet-soupd world titles when he smashed Cornelius Bundrage via Round 3 TKO to win the IBF strap last September.

Jermell has never shown the same kind of power as Jermall. But what he lacks in punching power, he more than makes up for with craft. I think Jermell is the better pure boxer of the two. He’d be a handful for any fighter in the division, including the likes of Saul Alvarez, Julian Williams and Austin Trout.